[Monday Reading] Of colored water and changing the world

We’re also inviting everyone to join our Check Off your Reading List Challenge 2014.

Click here to sign up. If you have already signed up, here is the April-June linky where you can link up your reviews or updates from your reading list. We are also very excited to share that Pansing Books will be giving away copies of Julian Sedgwick’s Mysterium: The Palace of Mystery to two lucky CORL participants from April-June. So link up your posts now!

Carrie Gelson of There is a Book for That is also hosting #mustreadin2014.

These two picturebooks inspire the reader to reflect on injustice and segregation and the giant steps one can take to help change the world.

A Taste of Colored Water

Written and Illustrated by: Matt Faulkner
Published by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2008
Borrowed from the library. Book photos taken by me.

As the first page of the book noted, it was all Abbey Finch’s fault. She went shopping with her mother in the big city and saw a sign that said “colored water.” Naturally, she told her friends Lulu and Jelly all about it. Cousins (and bestfriends) Lulu and Julius (also known as Jelly) were fascinated with the entire concept of colored water coming out of a bubbler that they persuaded Uncle Jack (Jelly’s father) to have them tag along when he went to town to get a new part for his tractor.

When they got to the city, they were surprised at how unusually crowded it seemed to be – more than usual. There was a crowd bearing signs, and police officers and firemen with big hoses on standby.

While Lulu and Jelly were a tad scared by this, they were more concerned in finding the bubbler of colored water as they could just imagine how exquisite it must taste like. They also want to find out for themselves whether Abbey Finch is simply one big, fat liar.

It turns out that Abbey Finch was no fibber. Lulu and Jelly did find the bubbler, but not after seeing the crowd of people being hosed by the authorities:

What the colored water was like and how it tasted, I shall leave for you to discover. The last line uttered by Julius though touched me deeply when he asked his father: “Daddy, what color does a person have to be to get a taste of colored water?”

Seen from the eyes of two White children who had virtually no clue about what’s going on around them made my heart ache. The Afterword poignantly written by Matt Faulkner also gave a different kind of nuance in the telling of this seemingly-simple story, adding multiple layers to it that both children and adults can draw from. According to Faulkner:

It’s my wish that we take strength from the courageous ones who came before us and learn to question oppression, racism, segregation – and all forms of intolerance – and begin to promote compassion for all.

For teachers who wish to make use of this in the classroom, here is a downloadable PDF Social Studies Unit created by Joanna Brautigam that does not only include this book but a few others as well that looks into the civil rights movement.

Giant Steps to Change the World

Written by: Spike Lee & Tonya Lewis Lee Illustrated by: Sean Qualls
Published by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011
Borrowed from the library. Book photos taken by me.

The endpapers of the book show a number of quotations from people who are deemed to be heroes, who stood up for things that they believe in, and were recognized for their humanitarian deeds or their remarkable contributions to society. The names of such illustrious individuals include Harriet Tubman, Muhammad Ali, Mother Teresa, Langston Hughes, Albert Einstein, Jean Michel Basquiat just to cite a few.

With Sean Qualls’ stunning collage artwork, this picturebook shows that these famous people never had it easy. They also experienced how it’s like to be ostracized and persecuted for their brilliance, judged because of the color of their skin, silenced because of the truth that they wish to say to the world.

The glowing words also empower the reader to take a stand, to take action, to initiate change.  It is not enough that one sees injustice happening or that one obsesses over world hunger or climate change – the fact is we can do something about it. If we feel powerless, we can try to find words that sing, pin them down, so they would live through the ages and move people:

When you witness the ills that poverty and lack of education heap on a community, lend your voice – like the poet who wrote of the pain and the beauty of neighborhoods forgotten.

I like how this book embodies courage, fortitude, and astounding integrity. There is wholeness here that radiates and encourages the reader to look at the world differently and take that giant step forward, no matter how difficult it may seem to be.

Currently Reading…

I am glad to share that I was able to finish reading two poetry books over the past week: Pablo Neruda’s Odes to Common Things and Carol Ann Duffy’s Love Poems. Poetry is alive!

I also finished reading a professional book for a research project that I am preparing for: A Family of Readers – The Book Lover’s Guide to Children’s and Young Adult Literature by Roger Sutton and Martha V. Paravano, editors of The Horn Book Magazine with a Foreword written by Gregory Maguire.

I also finished reading Jennifer Nielsen’s The Shadow Throne. One thing that I realized after I read the trilogy is that I may not really be a plot-driven kind of reader. I can see the appeal of the books, though, to middle-grade readers who love adventure. While I just couldn’t bring myself to connect with the main character, Jaron, I still am glad that I read the entire series.

I am still in the thick of reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Barely moving, actually. It’s more a meandering kind of read than I originally thought. I am loving the pace though and the highly introspective nature of the main character – but I am only in page 88 of this 700+ tome of a book, so I am sure this could change in an instant. In fact, one of the reasons why I gravitated towards poetry over the past week may be because I am reading The Goldfinch. Such a sad story. I felt I had to take poetry snackers in between the pages of this novel edged with pain.

Reading Challenge Update: 77, 78 (25)

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